31. 3 Key Elements for Successful Hiring in a Post-Pandemic World
Also available on YouTube!
It’s no secret that hiring has changed over the past few years and it’s harder to hire now than ever before. Or is it…
In this solo episode, I break down the challenges small businesses are facing when it comes to hiring (including a shifting power dynamic) and discuss the rise of the “belief-driven employee” and what employees really want.
In a world where it seems like “nobody wants to work anymore,” I bust common myths and share real, actionable hiring strategies that are working today for clients all across the country.
Contrary to popular belief, today’s employees aren’t lazy or unmotivated, they just have a different values-system and their wants and needs are changing.
As employers, it’s our responsibility to listen to those wants and needs and design our company cultures and work opportunities to meet them if we want to stay competitive and be able to hire the best of the best.
I wrap up the episode by going into detail about the essential hiring foundations you must have in order to connect with the right candidates and compel them to join your team.
If you’ve been frustrated with the hiring process lately and are feeling less-than-thrilled with the candidates you’ve been interviewing, this episode is for you!
In this episode, you’ll discover:
Insights into the challenges small businesses are currently facing when it comes to hiring
The shifting power dynamic in hiring and how to navigate it as a small business owner
The rise of the “belief-driven employee” – what employees really want
Strategies to adapt to evolving employee needs and expectations, without breaking the bank or your business
Essential elements for building a strong team from the start
Mentioned in This Episode:
TIR Ep. 16: Strengthen Your Team Culture: How to Become Conflict Capable with Anna Nielsen
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LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyncox
Book a Free Call: www.sprouthr.co/call
Transcription for Episode 31 - 3 Key Elements for Successful Hiring in a Post-Pandemic World
Ashley Cox (she/her) (00:00.842)
Welcome to the Impact Ripple podcast, the go-to source for hiring and leadership made simple, doable, and fun for visionary female business owners. I'm your host, Ashley Cox, author, certified HR expert, and founder of Sprout HR. And I believe that you don't have to change who you are to be a great leader because you already are one.
Join me as we kiss uncertainty and overwhelm goodbye and say hello to the tools and support you need to grow a profitable, sustainable, impactful team with more confidence and ease. On today's episode, I'm going solo and we're talking all about the key foundational pieces you need in place to start hiring and growing your team with the best people.
As I mentioned back in episode 26 at the start of this season, 77% of companies worldwide are struggling to hire right now. And it's the same for the big guys as it is for the little guys. Small business owners have been sharing with me recently that their hiring experiences have felt uncertain, confusing, overwhelming, anxiety-ridden, and overall frustrating.
They've said things to me like, I'm struggling to find applicants, or I'm getting all the wrong applicants. My Indeed posting isn't performing like it used to, or I can't offer a lot, usually set in regard to pay. These are common struggles and absolutely valid. So let's just put that out there first and foremost. So in today's episode, I want to share some strategies with you that will help you to.
Avoid some of the headache and hassle that you might have been experiencing when it comes to hiring, so that you can attract the right people for your team. Because I don't want you on this struggle bus, okay? So let's get you off the struggle bus if you're already there, or let's avoid getting on that struggle bus if you're not quite ready to hire yet. So there are three foundational elements or pieces of your business that all businesses need.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (02:19.234)
to help you attract the right team members, and specifically in today's marketplace, because things have changed in the last few years. And while these are not new, by any stretch of the imagination, they have become increasingly important over the past few years. The challenges that you're facing are likely due to a change in what employees want and need, and how you are addressing that or not.
in your company profile and job postings and all the places that you show up online in your business. Since the pandemic, we're seeing what has been called the rise of the belief-driven employee, which is a term that was coined by the Edelman Trust barometer. And people have realized that life is tenuous and it's precious and job candidates are standing up for themselves.
like never before. They're telling us exactly what they want. And all we have to do is listen and take note and make changes as appropriate. The power dynamic of hiring has shifted in favor of candidates, where they're putting their needs and wants first. And guess what? They are not willing to just settle for any old job, which means that, again, as employers, we have to take note of this.
and understand what it is that they're asking for, what they want, what they need in order to attract and keep the best employees. So what do these belief-driven employees really want? Here is what Edelman Trust Barometer found in their survey at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022. And when we're recording this, it is December, 2023. So this information is still very relevant, very new.
And I think it's something that we have to take note of so that we can make the right changes. And sometimes it may just be a simple communication change because you might already be offering many of these things, but we have to make some kind of change if we're experiencing or struggling with hiring and those challenges that come in the hiring process, especially right now. So here's what the survey said. 59% of people want a better fit
Ashley Cox (she/her) (04:41.634)
with their values. So what does that mean? This is what people said that meant to them. They want a job that's more personally fulfilling. They wanna go where they feel valued. They want something entirely new, which I know sometimes we may not be the job that fits the bill and that's okay. They want more continuous learning. They want a more socially engaged organization and they want a more inclusive culture.
So out of that list of what was that six or seven items, there was only one that you really have no control over, maybe two, you know, a job that's personally fulfilling. We may or may not be able to offer that to someone, but we can make sure that people feel valued, that they have learning opportunities, that they are with an organization that is engaged and they're engaged socially, and we can create more inclusive cultures. So 59% of people want a better fit with their values.
Now, the next biggest marker was 50% of people surveyed want a better fit for their lifestyle. So the first thing right out of the gate they said that meant to them was we want better work-life balance. And if you've been around for any period of time or you've heard me talk about work-life balance, I don't really believe in the idea of work-life balance. To me, it's like...
trying to walk on a balance beam. Have you ever done that? I used to do balance beam when I was in gymnastics, when I was a kid. And it's hard, y'all. It's hard. You have to put one foot right in front of the other. There's not a lot of margin for error. You're using all your core muscles, and you sway too far one way or the other, and whoop, there you go. And so I think that the better way to talk about this particular piece of lifestyle fit is work-life harmony.
Sometimes work takes a front seat, and sometimes home or personal life takes a front seat. But in the end, all of the pieces of the harmony work together to create a beautiful music. And so sometimes, some people enjoy working more than others. Some people, depending on the season in their life, may need to focus on their home life better. So while you may not be able to create the perfect ideal work-life balance or work-life harmony for every employee,
Ashley Cox (she/her) (07:02.43)
I think it's important to be able to communicate what is available at your place so that people can choose, does this fit with my idea of the ultimate or the ideal work-life balance or work-life harmony? Okay, so 50% of people want a better fit for their lifestyle. They want better work-life balance. They want a job less likely to lead to burnout. Wow.
That's such a profound statement. And I think that this deserves a little more digging into because what they're asking for is to not be work to death, essentially. And we absolutely have control over that. We have control over how many team members we hire, what their workload looks like, the due dates or timelines or deadlines that we expect for them to meet, the way that they feel supported as a whole human.
People are tired of burnout. They're tired of feeling like they have nothing left to give at the end of the day. And that's where we can definitely step in and make some changes. They also want their employer not to require them to work in an office. I read some statistics recently where the biggest group of people who actually want to work in an office is Gen Z.
And there's some conversation around that that's really interesting because Gen Z is our youngest generation in the workforce, right? They're, you know, in their early 20s and they need to be able to have that mentorship, to be able to ask questions, to see what it's like to be in a professional setting or to be in a work setting. But millennials and Gen X and baby boomers, they're the ones who are more interested in that hybrid type of work environment.
There's actually a really small percentage of people who wanna be fully remote. And if your company or your team is fully remote, there are absolutely plenty of people out there for you to hire and work with. But in those areas where there's an opportunity for both, why not offer both? And allow people the opportunity to choose. Do they wanna spend more time working remotely? Do they wanna spend more time working in the office or from your brick and mortar establishment?
Ashley Cox (she/her) (09:25.802)
And I think that's such an easy way for us to create work-life balance or work-life harmony where people feel like they have some control. They also want a safer workplace. And that's a really broad statement as well. There's physical safety, there is psychological or mental safety, there is safety from the perspective of feeling like it's an inclusive and diverse workplace. So...
you know, a lot of different ways for us to create safety in our in our companies. And so these are the 50% of people who want that better fit for their lifestyle. Now the third group makes up 31% of the people in this survey. So 31% of the people want better pay or career advancement. So note how interesting that is that 59% of people want a better fit with their values.
50% of people want a better fit with their lifestyle, and only 31% of people are mentioning pay and career advancement. Not that money is not important, money will always be important. We should always try to pay our people well, pay them livable wages, create opportunities for them to earn more income. But in this particular instance, people were saying that values and lifestyle were much more important to them.
And so in the better pay or career advancement, people are looking to earn more money and get better benefits and looking forward to moving up and advancing in their careers. Which again, these are both things that we can plan for, that we can be strategic about, and that we can offer to people. But it does take some intentional thinking and planning and strategy. So, you know, taking all of these things into consideration, maybe these are also some of the things
that you wanted when you started your business. Today's worker's not very different from a lot of entrepreneurs. They want a little bit more control over when and where they work, and they want opportunities to have that work-life harmony, to have a value-centered experience, to be thought of as a human. And if you've been around on the podcast for a while, you've heard me talk about before,
Ashley Cox (she/her) (11:47.858)
We're humans working with humans. And so if we just keep coming back to that core thought of, these are real people on the other side of the decisions I'm making, the offers I'm extending, the things that I'm doing in my company to build a better company, to build a radically different company, then you're going to be off to a really good start. And they might even be things that you're already offering to your team. But.
Maybe those things, as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, aren't being communicated in the right ways or the right places to connect with and attract your dream team members. So let's take a look at these three key elements or three key pieces of your business that all businesses need to have in place in order to attract and hire the right people. Now, number one, vision. You need vision.
a clear and compelling vision. People are excited to do work that is meaningful. And when you can create a clear and compelling vision, when you can paint the picture of what it looks like to build this thing with you, that's going to get people excited. They are going to either take a look at that and say,
Absolutely, hell yes, I wanna build this thing, this sounds exciting, this is exactly where I was meant to be, this work feels meaningful, it feels purpose-filled. Or they might say, nope, this ain't for me, this is not what I wanna be a part of, I don't wanna build this, and both of those reactions are good, both of those reactions are good. It's just like when we hear marketers talk about
attracting or repelling clients, right? We wanna attract our ideal clients and we wanna repel clients that aren't gonna be a good fit, whether it's because it's not the right service, they're not at the right stage in their business, we can't support them in the best way possible, whatever that means, that's not bad. That's actually really, really good because that means you get to work with clients that you know you can help, that you know you can serve fully.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (14:07.51)
that you know are going to get the results that you are promising or guaranteeing. The same thing applies when it comes to hiring the right people. We wanna attract the people who want to help us work toward a similar vision, who want to help us work toward a similar goal to create something in this world that feels meaningful to them. And we wanna repel the people who just aren't here for it.
And that's okay because that's where a lot of times folks, you know, will hire someone and then they're like, oh, this person's just not driven or they're not motivated or I don't understand why they just don't seem to be engaging with the other team members or I can talk to them until I'm blue in the face and they just don't seem to care. Well, they probably don't care because they don't feel very aligned with the vision.
And maybe that vision wasn't clearly communicated to them so that they could have the opportunity to opt in or opt out, AKA apply or not apply to the job. Or maybe you weren't very clear on that vision. Maybe that vision has changed since that person's been hired. And that's okay too. Our visions evolve. We grow as humans, we grow as business owners. Things shift and change. And sometimes along the way we lose people and that's okay too. Because what we want,
are the right people on our team who are aligned with the vision that we've created, the goals that we're working toward, and the end game that we're trying to play here. So there's a couple of other episodes that I've recorded that are really good to go back and kind of listen to if you are working on creating your vision. So the first one is episode 13, Growing Your Team With Intention. And I really talk a lot about
you know, deciding what it is that you want, deciding what it is that where you're going and what you need and who you need in order to get there. And then episode 30 with Getmany Whitlock is such a beautiful example of a business owner who's so clear in her vision and where she's going and how she has used that vision to really attract the most incredible team members. So go and listen to those two episodes and I'll make sure to drop those.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (16:30.234)
in the show notes as well so that you can easily find them. So number one key element, vision. Number two, our values. And I know this is one of those things that you're like, seriously, Ashley, every company in the history of forever has had company values. They put them on a plaque and they slap them up on the wall or they're in the company handbook or they're listed on the company website, but I don't just mean service.
Lip service values is what I was trying to say. I don't just mean lip service values. I mean truly, fully, intentionally integrated values. What do you stand for? Why? How does it play out in your business? You know, we think about our values as being something personal, and I think that that's true. We have our personal values, and we also have our company values.
And there are ways in which those two things probably overlap. And there's probably some things there that are different. A lot of times, I find that my personal values absolutely drive what I do in my business. And there's a lot of congruency there. There's a lot of overlap. And I like that because I'm the one that's running this business. I'm the one that's put my face on it and put my voice out there. You know?
And I think that it's important for me to feel good about the company that I'm building. And so when we think about it from that standpoint, we can look at how that makes sense for our employees as well. They want to work for a company that they feel good about. They want to work for a company that has, if not all, the same values, a similar value system, a similar belief system.
because it would be awful darn hard to go work for a company whose values were out of alignment with your own, that butted up against each other, that maybe even fought each other. And so when we're looking for jobs, when candidates are looking for jobs and they're talking about values alignment, they wanna see what do you stand for and how is that playing out day to day in your business? So thinking about your values, it's not just
Ashley Cox (she/her) (18:50.71)
slapping them up on your website, it's how are you bringing your values into every conversation you're having? You're bringing your values into your social media content and your marketing content. The way that you show up in this world as a business, is it reflecting your values? When you are in the sales process, when you're talking to potential clients or you're creating sales pages or lead forms or any of the thousands of other ways that we connect with and...
sell to our clients are those sales processes and practices in alignment with who you say you are as a company. There's so many different ways that we can share our values. And I think that it's so important that if you don't have your values outlined already, that you do that. So that way, when people are saying, is this company for me or not, they can do a quick values check and say, yes.
I agree with those things. Those things are also important to me. This would be a good fit. Because what this is gonna do is help you save some time not attracting the wrong fit candidates. And so when you save time, not attracting poor fit or wrong fit candidates, that means you're spending more time talking to the people who are already excited about your business, excited about the work you're doing, and they are bought in at a belief.
driven level. So again, back to that belief driven employee, right? So I have a couple of resources or an episode that I think is really going to help you with this. I did an episode, episode five, it was early on in the podcast called Building a Strong Foundation for Your Team with Core Values. And I go through everything there. What are values? Why are they important?
How do I identify them? There's a really great simple exercise to help you identify and define your core values. And then also how to give them more than just lip service. And I share a lot more ways that you can implement and integrate your values within your company. I think you're gonna love that episode. Again, episode five, and I'll drop the link to that in our show notes so that you can quickly and easily find that. All right, finally, number three.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (21:11.846)
Vibes, vibes or AKA company culture isn't just about ping pong tables in the break room, my friend. I feel like the tech boom of like the 90s and early 2000s really brought about this idea that company culture was all about the fun ways that we integrate.
random stuff into our businesses. And while I'm not opposed to a ping pong table in the breakroom or happy hour with your coworkers or any of these other things, I think it goes so much deeper than that. And we really give company culture a disservice when we don't talk about how deep it really is. So let's just define company culture really quickly. So that way we make sure we're on the same page.
Company culture is our shared values, our shared beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, actions, our company practices that define our company. It's all about how our employees work together, how they interact with one another, treat each other, how they make decisions both individually and collaboratively. It's how they resolve conflict and potential problems.
Company culture or your vibe is essential. It's so important. And it's often something that people talk about and throw around and it can feel really nebulous and you can't quite get your arms around it. But it's something that we as business owners can sit down and we can get it on paper. And we can think through these things. What are the values that we hold? We just talked about that. What's the vision? What's the long-term goal or?
end game that we're trying to reach or trying to play. What beliefs do people need to have in order to do good work at this company? What attitudes or behaviors do they need to show up with? And this is going to be different for every company. There's some companies that I work with who are a lot more professional and buttoned up, and they have a very specific way that they communicate with their clients, whether it's email or phone or.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (23:31.518)
the documents that they provide to them. I have clients that are really fun and casual and laid back and they have a completely different vibe. So it's important that we're communicating what's the vibe here so that our ideal candidates can look at that and say, yes, absolutely. I'm a more serious person. I love a professional work environment. That's where I thrive. I'm really good at that. And I would do an amazing job there.
Or if it's a more fun casual laid back kind of thing where there's lots of slang and emojis and gifts and whatnot flying around, and that's how they interact with their customers. And someone may say, that feels really good to me. I would never make it in a professional environment. I couldn't cut it there. I don't have great grammar or I don't know the super buttoned up professional way to communicate with clients, but I can have fun and I can make sure they feel like they're having fun. And so both of these are
Good, both of these are OK. Both of these are valuable and necessary vibes for companies to have, depending on what that company is selling, either a service or a product. I would definitely want for my neurosurgeon to have a professional company approach. I want for their team to be serious and dedicated and to think about.
their actions before they take them, because that has real life consequences and results, right? You want your neurosurgeon and their team to be really well skilled and equipped and calm under pressure. But you know, if I'm going to an amusement park, I want folks to be fun. I wanna feel like everybody here is having a great time. They're making sure I'm having a great time. They're making sure that, you know, our family's having a great time.
that there's not really any problems that they can't handle. They're making jokes and they're keeping things light and they're making it fun regardless of the weather or how long the line is to a ride or an attraction or if a ticket isn't working correctly or whatever it might be. So all of the different types of company cultures and vibes are valid and they have their place in this world. We just have to make sure that we're clearly communicating that.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (25:53.41)
to the people that we're trying to hire. So again, they can opt in, they can opt out. And the more people that opt out, the better because that means less applicants that we have to weed through and figure out, is this a good fit? Is it not a good fit? The fewer people we have to interview, over here it's all about quality, not quantity. I'm forever preaching to our Sprout HR clients about it doesn't matter if you have a thousand applicants or you have 10 applicants. What matters is
how many of those applicants are an amazing fit for your company. So if you only have 10 applicants, but nine of them would be an amazing best fit person, you are winning my friend. Because if you have a thousand applicants and only two of them are best fit, that's a problem. And we can do a much, much better job by communicating our values and our vision and our vibes so that we're attracting the right people and we can sort through less.
poor fit candidates and really make sure that we're hiring the best fit people for our company. And you know what, that reminds me, I'm gonna go on a little side tangent here. I had some notes that I was following, but this is a little sidebar. There are, okay, I'm gonna make a caveat. I don't usually use the words always or never, things that are definites, but there's always, you know.
There's usually an exception, right? I just almost messed up there, right? You almost caught me. There's usually an exception. There are no bad people is an exception, right? There's a couple of bad people. There's a handful of bad people. They don't have all these true crime shows and podcasts and television programs and things like that, if there weren't a few bad apples in the bunch. But for the majority of people, they're generally good people.
They generally want to come to work, do a good job, and there's just sometimes where it's not a good fit. And so I want for you to think about when you have that person on your team, and you're like, this person is horrible, they suck, they're killing me, they're draining the life out of me, they're a terrible person, they're probably not a terrible person, they're just in the wrong job. And it could very well be that the
Ashley Cox (she/her) (28:15.118)
company culture or the vibe just isn't a good match for them. That's OK. So I want for you to think, as you're going forward, as you're hiring, there are no bad people. There's just a bad fit. With that caveat that there are a handful of bad people in this world, right? But there's no bad people. There's just a bad fit. And it's our job, our responsibility, to make sure that we are sharing as much information about what it's like to work.
here with our vision, our values, and our vibe so that they can help in that decision-making process as to whether this is a good fit for them or not. So as with the other two items or other two key elements, I have a podcast episode recommendation here for you as well.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (29:12.302)
conversation or a great, I think that one's a solo episode where I really go through and talk about the way that we can proactively and intentionally create a culture by design or we can let things pan out however they might and end up with a culture by default because I promise you, you're going to have a company culture one way or the other. And if you're like me.
which if you're listening to this podcast, we probably have some similarities. We probably have some shared values and belief systems and things like that. You don't wanna leave that to chance. You want an opportunity to create a culture by design that's very intentional and purposeful and meaningful. So check out episode 13, Culture by Design versus Culture by Default. I can't remember what the title of that podcast episode is right off the bat, but I'll drop it in the show notes so that way you can link to it quickly.
And we've got a couple of other great conversations around company culture and team culture. Episode 16, episode 20, we talk a lot about different ways to infuse and integrate company culture through things like conflict resolution and building conflict capabilities, which was episode 16 with Anna Nilsson, and how to create a healthy team culture with integrative and functional dietician Amber Gorley, which was episode 20.
So those are your three key elements. This is a little bit longer of a solo episode for me. Usually these are around 15 minutes or so, but this is such an important topic. It's such a prolific and profound problem that we're seeing right now where companies are really struggling with hiring the right people for their team. And it really, in my experience, almost two decades working in human resources and hiring and leading teams,
It comes down to these three very simple, yet very profound elements, our vision, our values, and our vibe. So now that you have this, what do you do with it? You share it everywhere. Put your vision, value, and vibes on your company website. Put it on your about page. Put it on a separate page all about your company culture.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (31:27.082)
I also recommend having a careers page if you're hiring, and even in the in-between times when you're not hiring so that people can learn about your company. Because when you put that notice out there that hey, you're hiring, you want people to already be in the know. They know you, they like you, they trust you, they're excited to work for a company that has similar values, that's working towards something they believe in and that they're excited about. And so, thinking even in your job posting,
Talk about these things in your company overview. Include a link to your website where candidates can go take a closer look. Add them to the benefits section because these are things people are asking for. And so we wanna tell them what it is they wanna know. What's in it for me if I come work for your company? This is our vision, these are our values. Here's what you can expect vibe-wise when you come work here. And in the interview process, design questions that support your vision, values, and vibe.
Be in integrity with your vision, values, and vibe throughout that whole process. Because the most important part is that you are in full alignment with what you are saying. You are either there or you are actively working toward those things. And not just in the hiring process, but in your entire company. Because I promise you, I have seen people talking about this. When they say, yeah, sounds nice, on their company website,
looks different on their company's social medias, in the way that they respond to clients or their audience or their followers, in the interviews that they're giving, on podcasts, in the creation of services, in the delivery of services or products. These things don't feel in alignment. We have to think about, if I'm going to put it out there, I've got to live up to that.
And we can always be growing and evolving and learning and becoming better, but you gotta start somewhere. And as you grow, as you learn, as things evolve and shift and change in your business, you can update any of these things. These are not meant to be one and done. These aren't meant to just be something you create once and you tuck it in your Google folder somewhere in the back folder that's hidden that nobody can find.
Ashley Cox (she/her) (33:47.57)
This is one of those things that we really want to showcase and keep out there and come back to every year. Is this still true for us? Does this still feel in alignment with who I am, how I've grown, where our business is going? And if you need to make changes, make changes. Okay, it's time for our final segment, Imagine the Impact, where we get to envision what it can look like for you to take action today.
People want to do meaningful work. They want to be part of something bigger to make a difference. And they wanna work for companies where they feel aligned with the vision, the values, and the vibe, because these things are what create physical and psychologically safe environments where people are free to be who they are and to do their best work.
and people want to be acknowledged, valued, and respected for the contributions they make. So imagine the impact that having thoughtfully, intentionally, and fully expressed vision, values, and vibes could have on your hiring efforts, your business, your community, and the world.
Thank you so much for tuning in today, dear leader. If you're enjoying this podcast and if you enjoyed this episode, I'd be really grateful if you left us a rating and or review on your favorite podcast app or share this episode or any of your other favorites with a friend because this helps us to share this foundational hiring and leadership advice with even more visionary female leaders just like you because I believe that we can radically change company cultures together.
As always, it is an absolute honor and a privilege to be here with and for you on your leadership journey.
